roundup

While our Windows Phones can be a great way to stay in touch and stay productive while on the go, they can also be a super way to relax and unwind with the game selection available in the Store. This week's roundup will focus on a few of the top rated games that are great options to have in your library. As an added bonus, these games also play out nicely from your Windows device.

From staying fit to sleeping sound, there is a host of Windows Phone apps available to help you live healthier life. This week's roundup spotlights some of the top rated Health and Fitness apps available in the Windows Phone Store.

The Windows Phone Store has a number of collections that pull together apps and games of a similar genre or theme. The Indie Game Spotlight Collection pulls together gaming titles from independent developers and is the focus of this week's Windows Central Roundup.

The Windows Phone Store is packed full of fantastic, entertaining and challenging gaming titles. While many are paid titles, plenty top rated games are free. This week's Windows Central roundup focuses on five top rated free games in the Windows Phone Store.

Over the years, Disney has created an impressive collection of Windows Phone games. Many are match-three styled games while others include endless runner titles and hidden picture games. We have pulled a few of these games off the Store shelves to highlight in this week's roundup.

While video games have improved over the years with better graphics and game play, we still have several Windows Phone games that reflect the days of old with 8bit graphics and a retro or classic feel about them. This week's roundup focuses on a few of the top rated games with that retro feel.

The 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially kicked off on June 1st and there are several Windows Phone apps to keep you informed on forecasts and predictions. For this week's roundup, we will highlight some of the top rated offerings from the Windows Phone Store.

Windows Phone photography has greatly improved over the years and Supporting Computers has been right in the middle of things, building a nice collection of apps along the way. With Fhotoroom leading the charge, we've tapped a few of their photo apps for this week's Windows Central Roundup.

Perfect Thumb is a Windows Phone developer based out of Hanoi, Vietnam and has quietly built up an impressive collection of Windows Phone apps. Their titles have a simple design that is well suited for mobile applications and we've selected a few of them to highlight in this week's roundup.

Planning a business trip or about to go on holiday? The Windows Phone Store has several apps to help you find hotels, map your routes and help out with your planning needs. This week's Windows Central roundup focuses on these trip planning apps that may come in handy.

Our weekly roundup of Windows Phone apps and games continues with us spotlighting a collection of Windows Phone apps for the Microsoft Band. This is our second roundup featuring this genre of apps that seems to be constantly growing.

Microsoft has developed or helped develop a boat load of Windows Phone apps and games over the years and to help you get pointed in the right direction to find these titles, the Windows Phone Store has a Made by Microsoft Collection.

If you do a keyword search for "Microsoft" in the Store, you'll come up with three pages of apps and games that Microsoft has played a role in developing. The Collection pulls twenty-eight of these titles under one roof and includes a nice selection of Windows Phone titles. For this week's roundup, we will pull a handful of titles from the Made by Microsoft Collection.

If you have a favorite app or game from Microsoft that isn't mentioned, feel free to toss out your recommendation in the comments below. We understand that there are other quality apps and games from Microsoft that (for whatever reason) did not make the Collection such as Crimson Dragon, Wordament, Shuffle Party, Microsoft Health or any of the Bing apps ( Sports, Weather, Food and Drink, etc.). Please understand we are only spotlighting apps and games that are in this Collection and there is nothing afoot if your favorite isn't mentioned.

If you enjoy long, drawn out games then city builder games can be a great option for your Windows Phone gaming library. These time management games call on you to build up a city from scratch and often include a number of missions your growing community will have to conquer.

There is a vast selection of city builder styled games in the Windows Phone Store and we've plucked a few of the top rated choices to highlight in this week's roundup. We have cityscapes ranging from those where dragons rule the skies to those that will take you to the Dark Side. These games take the original city builder concept that most of us learned about through SimCity and takes it up a notch by adding combat/action elements into the mix.

As with all of your roundups, we try to highlight several Windows and Windows Phone titles that might spark an interest with our readers. However, we cannot touch on all the fantastic apps and games in the Stores so we will rely on you guys and gals to fill in the gaps. If we've overlooked your favorite city building game, feel free to toss out your recommendations in the comments below.

This week we are setting aside our Windows Phone and taking a look at one of the Collections in the Windows Store. As many know, the Windows Phone Store has a series of Collections that pulls together Windows Phone games or apps that are from the same genre such as shopping apps, photography apps or racing games.

The Windows Store also has a large selection of Collections that focus on Windows 8 apps and games. These Collections are very similar to those we have become familiar with in the Windows Phone Store and cover categories of Windows 8 titles such as hidden object games, apps for music lovers, racing games and more.

For this week's roundup, we are focusing on the Windows Store Collection Comic Book Fans. It is one of the smaller collections but focuses on apps and games that delivers the comic book experience to your Windows 8 device. We've pulled four of the titles to highlight this week that you may appealing.

For those who may not be familiar, the Windows Phone Store features a series of app and game collections that groups Windows Phone titles into a wide range of categories. Microsoft does a good job of rotating these collections and one collection that we haven't notice recently popped up on our radar.

The Into the Shadows Collection is an assembly of Windows Phone games that will allow you to be immersed in a world of intricate shading and shadows. The gaming titles are described as featuring "slick graphics with a shadowy atmosphere". When combined with challenging game play, these shadowy Windows Phone games can be an entertaining way to pass the time.

We've plucked a few of the gaming titles from the Into the Shadows Collection for this week's Windows Central roundup. There are a few notable omissions ( Dark Lands and Darklings come to mind) and if you have a favorite game with a shadowy atmosphere that isn't in the Collection, sound off below in the comments.

Opening Day for Major League Baseball is right around the corner and for those who like to follow all the action around the Diamond, there are a few Windows Phone apps that might come in handy.

While it is doubtful that MLB At Bat will return to the Windows Phone Store lineup, it wasn't the only game in town. For this week's roundup, we'll toss in a few apps dedicated to Major League Baseball, one to help you keep score of the game and will also mention the usual suspects. Please Note that some of these apps have not been updated to reflect the 2015 Major League Baseball Season. This often happens at the last minute and with the season kicking in on Monday, we expect updates to be pushing out soon.

As always, if we have overlooked your favorite Major League Baseball Windows Phone app be sure to toss out your recommendation in the comments below. We try to include some of the more popular and top rated apps and games in our roundups but we do miss a few from time to time, as well as needing to thin things out for the sake of print space. Plus we like to hear from our readers as to what is trending out there.

Magma Mobile is a gaming developer that has quietly built up a rather impressive and popular portfolio of Windows Phone games. Many of the gaming titles are great time wasters with challenging game play and nice graphics.

For this weekend's Windows Central Roundup, we have plucked a few of the top rated games from Magma Mobile's collection to spotlight. You can find the full, 40 game collection through this link or simply by searching Magma Mobile in the Windows Phone Store.

While the Microsoft Band is still somewhat limited in availability, the number of Windows Phone apps with support for the Band is growing at a decent pace. Sure, most are customization apps but being able to have the Band fit your personality and style is not a bad thing.

While we have a Windows Central page dedicated to Microsoft Band apps, we thought it was time to highlight some of the top Windows Phone apps designed for the Microsoft Band in this week's roundup. Plus, seeing that the Band is becoming available outside the U.S. as well as through Amazon.com, Best Buy and other third party retailers we expect more of our readers will be curious as to what apps are out there.

March Madness, for those not familiar, is one of the most popular sporting events around. Seventy-two teams will compete over the next few weeks to ultimately crown a NCAA Men's Basketball Champion. The event will generate billions in revenue and millions will be lost in job productivity due to everyone calling in sick to watch the games.

The number of apps exclusive to the NCAA Tourney have slimmed down a bit over the years but we were able to find a few for this roundup that should only help contribute to the chaos we know as March Madness.

The Windows Phone Store shelves are lined with a vast assortment of weather apps - some good, some bad. They come in an equally vast assortment of styles from the feature rich to those that deliver just the basics on the weather.

Spring is around the corner and in many parts of the U.S. that means it is time for severe weather. Many of these weather apps will help you keep in tune with the conditions in your area and help you prepare for what Mother Nature has in store. Severe weather aside, these apps can also help you year round with trip planning to finding a rain free day to mow the yard.

The Windows Phone Store has a Weather Collection that has a nice selection of weather apps and while we plucked a few from this Collection for this week's roundup, we are also highlighting a few weather apps outside the Collection that we have found to be useful.